Swapped
Swapped is a 2008 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Universal Animation Studios and released by Universal Pictures. The film was directed by Larry Huber in his feature film directorial debut (with Jess Riol as co-director) from a screenplay by Brian Lynch and produced by Freddie Long, with Michael Wildshill and Audel LaRoque as executive producers. The film stars the voices of Sarah Vowell, Dave Foley, Caroline Dhavernas, Amanda Bynes, Leslie Mann, Steve Buscemi, Freddie Highmore, Martin Short, Loretta Devine, and Harland Williams. The plot is loosely based on the 1881 novel The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain. The film tells the story of a teenage girl named Suz Grady (Vowell) who orders the Swapper, a brain switching helmet invented by the National Swap Center (NSC), which she uses to swap bodies with animals and objects to ditch her human life. However, after encountering a group of people who have their bodies switched with animals, Suz must find a way to get their bodies back before someone else does. Swapped was released in the United States on July 2, 2008, and was met with mixed critical reception but was a box office success, grossing $376 million worldwide on its $70 million budget. The film was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Plot Coming soon! Voice cast * Sarah Vowell as Suzanne "Suz" Grady, a 15-year-old girl who dreams of escaping her average everyday high school life. * Dave Foley as Rodney Nickerson, a young man who accidentally swapped bodies with a squirrel and recruits Suz to get his human body back. ** Jeremy Shada as Young Rodney * Caroline Dhavernas as Malaria Nickerson, Rodney's older sister and the leader and head of the National Swap Center (NSC). ** Ariel Winter as Young Malaria * Amanda Bynes as Chloe Andersen, Suz's best friend. * Leslie Mann as Alice Grady, Suz's mother. * Steve Buscemi as Patrick Grady, Suz's father. * Freddie Highmore as Lee Webb, a goth and emo boy who is Suz's neighbor. * Martin Short as Norman, a former member of the NSC who swapped bodies with a beaver and is the leader of the Swapped People. * Loretta Devine as Karen, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with a black goose. * Harland Williams as Jimmy, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with his pet dog, Rex. * Nika Futterman as Suz's teacher. * Michael Yarmush as Johnny Long, one of Suz's friends. * Shantel VanSanten as Maria, a girl in Suz's class. * Larry Huber as Richard, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with a turtle. * Amy McNeill as Kelly, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with a rat. * Carlos Alazraqui as Steve, one of the Swapped People and a pizza delivery boy who swapped bodies with a pig. * Pat Fraley as Phil, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with his pet goldfish. * William Jennings as Chuck, one of the Swapped People who swapped bodies with a bug. * Laura Bailey as a NSC member. * Tom Kenny as Ted * Rob Huebel as NSC Manager * Brian Lynch as Doctor Additional voices * Isabella Acres * Lori Alan * Emily Anderson * Jack Angel * Bob Bergen * John Cygan * Larry Huber * Freddie Long * Sherry Lynn * Danny Mann * Mona Marshall * Mickie McGowan * Samuel Mokugusn * Laraine Newman * Jan Rabson * Jess Riol * Steve Samono * Jeremy Shada * Zack Shada * Will Shadley * André Sogliuzzo * James Kevin Ward * April Winchell * Ariel Winter Production Development When Magina was in production in late 2002, Universal feature animation head Michael Wildshill had met with comic book writer Brian Lynch and gave him a copy of Mark Twain's novel The Prince and the Pauper, desiring to make an animated film based off on it. By the spring of 2003, Lynch devised a story treatment inspired by body swaps in fiction with a duo of protagonists who swap bodies through a helmet. Jim Anderson and Kirk Wise were originally the film's directors with a tentative release scheduled for a summer 2007 release. Originally, the story as a dramatic film and a "loose modern take" on The Prince and the Pauper, which had Suz Grady initially conceived as a spoiled girl who despises school and encounters another girl with a body swapping helmet who came from an alternate universe where school never exists; Suz swaps places with the girl to escape her boring school life. In Lynch's treatment, the film was meant to end with Suz and the girl switching back to their original bodies and the former would reunite her family and friends in reality. However, when Me & Mobo was in production, Wildshill decided that the project should be a departure from its serious approach, and desired for the film to be a more lighthearted comedy. Because of this, the film was put on hold due to several rewrites and Computeropolis 2 assumed the summer 2007 release date originally scheduled for Swapped. Anderson and Wise left the project in 2006 following disputes over the film's creative direction, and were replaced by Larry Huber, an animator known for his history as a producer at Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and Nickelodeon and also the co-creator of Nickelodeon's ChalkZone, and Jess Riol, a co-producer on Me & Mobo. Additionally, Steve Samono reportedly co-directed the film albeit uncredited. Casting In September 2006, Sarah Vowell, Dave Foley, Caroline Dhavernas, and Amanda Bynes had signed onto the film. American author and actress Vowell was asked to do the voice of Suz because of her voice work in Pixar's The Incredibles, as well as her involvement in the National Public Radio program This American Life. Animation Coming soon! Soundtrack In June 2007, Mark Mothersbaugh was revealed to be returning to Universal Animation to score Swapped. Interscope Records released the soundtrack on July 1, 2008. Video game A video game based on the film was released on June 24, 2008 for the Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable. Release Swapped was originally scheduled for a May 23, 2008 release, but Universal Pictures moved the release up to July 2, 2008, mainly due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. Marketing The film was first revealed in its official teaser in front of the preceding Universal animated feature Computeropolis 2 in theaters. Home media Swapped was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 2, 2008. Reception Box office Coming soon! Critical response Swapped has received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 59% approval rating with an average rating of 6.0/10, based on 143 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Swapped isn't all too fresh, and it sometimes can't help but mock up Freaky Friday-esque elements, but the zany visuals and deep characters are hard to resist." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 49 out of 100 based on 48 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale. Accolades Transcripts Main To see the main transcript of the film, click here. Trailers To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here. Category:Films Category:2000s Category:2008 Category:Swapped Category:Universal Pictures animated films Category:Universal Animation Studios animated films Category:PG-rated films